Innocence Lost
by niravive
Summary: With JP, LP, PP, SS dead, & SB in Azkaban, AF & MF as top Aurors must evaluate their lives and learn to cope with the losses, along with RL.


"GET DOWN!" she shouted at her partner. He quickly obeyed, and they both pulled out their wands and another weapon of choice.  
  
Mundungus looked at Arabella out of the corner of his eye. She was squinting out from behind their meager cover, waiting for their chance. She winked at him, and they dove to the next tree, standing up to protect themselves better. "Didn't you say that this was an abandoned meeting place?" she hissed.  
  
"There has been no activity here in the past year," he whispered back.  
  
She snorted at that. She peered out from behind the tree and fired an arrow from her crossbow, hitting something with a dull thunk. "No activity my ass. If this is no activity, I'd hate to see high."  
  
"Ara! Be careful." Mundungus glared at her, and pointed one of his darts at her.  
  
"Always am, Mund, dear," she replied brushing her witch's lock out of her face and tucking the short strands behind her ear. "Shame we can't Apparate on church grounds."  
  
"We're almost to the border. We have to inform HQ what's happened."  
  
"First, m'dear, we have to get out of here. In one piece." She looked out from behind the tree, and brought her head back behind it, looking puzzled. "They don't seem to mean any harm. Why haven't they attacked yet?"  
  
"I don't know. Shall we run for it?" Mundungus asked.  
  
Arabella shook her head. "This doesn't seem right. Those Death Eaters should have attacked by now. What's the date?"  
  
Mundungus agreed with her while checking his watch. "The thirty-first."  
  
Arabella punched the tree. "Shit!" she exclaimed. "That's why we were sent after Him! Tonight's that night!"  
  
Mundungus grimaced and made as if he was about to follow Arabella's lead, but stopped at the last second. "Come on!"  
  
The partners made a mad sprint to the edge of the church boundaries, Apparating as soon as they crossed the picket fence marking the edge of the Holy grounds.  
  
Reappearing outside of Godric's Hollow, the partners stared horrified at the rubble.  
  
With shaking hands, Arabella covered her mouth, whispering, "The Secret Keeper failed."  
  
Mundungus walked slowly and painstakingly to the rubble, shifting some of it with his wand until he came across a woman's body with vibrant, if dusty, red hair. "Lily." he managed to get out.  
  
Arabella broke out of her paralysis, and assisted him in digging out James' body and laying him next to his wife and love. "Rest forever in peace. The Dark One fell," they murmured.  
  
They looked up at the sound of footsteps. They quickly moved into the trees, peering out and avoiding detection. "Sirius," Arabella whispered to Mundungus.  
  
"Don't even think of it, Arabella Figg. He betrayed all of us when he handed the Potters over. Sirius Black is no longer any friend of ours." Mundungus told her in a low, grim voice. He was well aware of his partner's feelings for the traitor.  
  
Arabella gave Sirius one last look and turned back to Mundungus, and nodded once. "You're right. Jaqui's got the children, anyhow." She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "Let's go get drunk," she suggested.  
  
*~*  
  
"Ara, how come you didn't tell me when you were sober last night that you knew Sirius was innocent?" Mundungus asked her the next morning from behind a giant stack of paperwork that he couldn't see over, so he was feeling his way to his desk by what his feet thwacked into.  
  
Arabella looked morosely up from her report she was writing. "Because it would change jack about the situation."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because everyone knows who Sirius' friends at Hogwarts were, and it's no secret that I was one of them, so they would claim clouded judgment and previous contact with the charged."  
  
"So you're just going to let Sirius go to Azkaban? An innocent life in Azkaban? How can you live with yourself?"  
  
Arabella stood up and grabbed half of the paperwork from him and slammed in down on his desk. "There. Have fun. Be a damn paper-shover. I have work to do. I'm on solo tonight, FYI."  
  
"Have fun."  
  
*~*  
  
Arabella walked down the street in the shadows, deep in thought. Her target hadn't shown yet, giving her plenty of time to think. What would happen to Sirius?  
  
She glanced up at the sky. The bright stars seemed to glare down at her mockingly.  
  
Arabella trailed to a halt as she heard faint crying nearby. She jumped the low bushes and, drawing her wand and crowbar, followed the noise. 'A. baby?' she thought, confused. She prowled a little further into the woods until she came across a paved path with street lights. She stepped across a puddle to where the crying, now a faint whimpering, had come from.  
  
Arabella gasped as she recognized the woman holding the baby. "Samantha!" she exclaimed quietly, kneeling down to turn her friend's dead body over. She almost reverently scooped the young child into her arms, soothing her and using her wand to conjure a bottle of warm milk.  
  
As she comforted the baby, she spoke into her watch. "Mundungus. Pick up."  
  
"Hmm?" came the distracted reply.  
  
"I. found. something," she said.  
  
"Sirius has been sent to Azkaban already. He killed Peter and twelve Muggles this afternoon."  
  
"SHIT!" Arabella exclaimed quietly, but vehemently. The baby began to tear up again. "That goes with my news just peachily." She swallowed before saying, "Samantha Satine is dead. I just found her body. The Killing Curse, by the looks of things. And that's not all." She hesitated before adding, "Sam had a baby girl."  
  
"WHAT?" Mundungus shouted. "How? Huh? WHO?" he demanded.  
  
"I don't know," Arabella said. "Look, my target ain't showing, I'm just going to go home. I'm taking the child with me."  
  
"Ara, you're the one who failed Child Management. Are you sure you can take care of a baby?"  
  
"Like you did any better. Look, I'll just use some of my sick leave that I never use. I should go tell Dumbledore what I found."  
  
"Right. I'll cover for you in the field going after your target. We'll just use some of our sick leave, and all will be fine," Mundungus assured her.  
  
AN- You like? Please R+R! This just hit me today, and will be ongoing, ne t'inquiete pas. 


End file.
